Category: Pray

Posted on

2007-08-04: Let the Praises Ring!

Good news from Joe yesterday.  Please read the following report from Doug Lucas and praise God for what He is doing at Emerald Hills:

Joe met with city officials to show them our building construction documents and encountered a very favorable response. His conclusion was that the plan was essentially "approved with revisions"… and the 2 revisions they had weren't outlandish. One involved a fire code that prevents us from having two open stairwells between floors of buildings of this type. This simply means we'll probably leave the internal staircase on the "road" side (Northwest), but on the "pond side", we'll actually install what will essentially look like a fire escape on the outside of the building. This metal staircase will be temporary and will only be needed until we build the next phase of the building which will include expanded office space and a downstairs dining hall. When we construct that wing of the building, we'll install an elevator (by code), as well as a 2nd staircase — again, by code. But it could not be an open one. No big deal at all. In fact, this decision actually saves us money in the short term.

In order to avoid building in an elevator in the current phase, we'll need to construct a code-approved handicapped accessible sidewalk leading to the back of the building, which will be a nice addition anyway.

The final item they mentioned will cost a bit more, but again, it's not *that* huge of a deal. They insisted that we install a sprinkler system in this building, partly because of the sheer number of people that could gather here someday — up to 300 in the upstairs alone (by calculation) and another 300 downstairs. To me, that's actually exciting, because it reminds us of the step up we're making in space. It goes without saying that having a safe, fire-sprinkled building is top priority too.

So Joe was encouraged. He asked them pretty directly, he said, "So what are we allowed to do out there?" The answer he received was that we can now proceed forward with essentially *anything* that we've mentioned in our master plan — the excavation, the Great Lawn, the ponds, the building, the septic system, … the works. Naturally, at each turn, we have to get sign-offs from relevant agencies to make sure we're doing things by code, but, for example, in the Prayer Center & Atrium, we're fully on track for that. Pull a staircase outside and add some sprinklers and we're good to go.

As a result, Joe has in turned signed off on his green light to plan a groundbreaking any time we want. He hopes we can begin on the excavation fairly soon, depending on the respective contractors and their schedules. (Money is still an issue, of course. Please keep praying for those next 14 partners to join "Project 29".)

Continue reading “2007-08-04: Let the Praises Ring!”

Posted on

2007-07-27: Answered Prayer.

 Joe has good news this morning from our construction package vendor. Believe it or not, in spite of doubling the size of the basement (and not to mention virtually a year of inflation), the price of the log package actually went *down*. Turns out we'll have to pay $313,000 for the entire 10,000-square-foot structure. That includes virtually everything above ground — except mechanicals. Still, many builders regularly tell customers to allow two- to three-times the cost of the log package to estimate the final product… meaning that we could still be anywhere from $650,000 to up to $900,000 for the final building costs. Let's hope we can lean more toward the $650,000. 🙂

To this package, we'll have to add the costs of the excavation & basement, plus the costs of the septic treatment prairie and the associated array of pipes and fields.

So the good news is — our pricing so far seems right on track with what we had hoped…. and in fact,… actually *under* expectations.

Answered prayer. Next step – Joe takes these plans to the city, asks for quotes for the excavation & basement, while getting the septic system under way.
Continue reading “2007-07-27: Answered Prayer.”

Posted on

2007-07-25: Beautiful Day.

 "Thank You, Father, for the beautiful day to walk and pray on the prayer trails at Emerald Hills.  Thank You that Ken Idleman, minister at Crossroads Christian Church, one of our "29" partners, took the time to visit with us and see what Emerald Hills is all about.  Thank You for the privilege of praying for Crossroads and Ken and the missionaries that Crossroads supports.  You are a wonderful Father.  I love You so much.  In the Name of Jesus, Amen."

Continue reading “2007-07-25: Beautiful Day.”

Posted on

2007-07-24: Rick Starr.

 Please continue your prayers for Rick Starr.  Here is his latest update (July 24):
“Debbie and I drove close to 500 miles in the last 24 hours to preach and sing for a funeral in Illinois. It was a great time in the Lord. The elders at the Church that we served in Oblong anointed me with oil, from James 5 and prayed over me in the Name of Jesus. There were several other people from Church there as well. It was a wonderful time in the Lord. The funeral was full of love, compassion and inspiration. Vivian was a real special lady to our family. She lived to be 91 years old here on earth and now she is living forever with the Lord!

Dr. Warnick’s office from Cincinnati called right before the funeral with the following information. He is on vacation and will be out of the office till next Tuesday. They want me to go to their clinic in Dayton, Ohio this week and have a PET Scan. We will pick up the two different series of MRI’s from his office in Cincinnati on the way to Dayton. They will then take the PET Scan and the MRI and fuse them together some how and get a better picture. Then their surgery tumor team will look at the results. They will then meet with Dr. Warnick and make a recommendation.

This is great news to me…because I was going to request another MRI after the Church here at Spencer prayed and fasted for me for 24 hours last week and the Church in Illinois prayed over me on Sunday. We are praying that God will miraculously removed the spot! (I just cannot bring my self to say t….) So it looks like we will be heading to Cincinnati and Dayton this week sometime. The office in Dayton is suppose to call tomorrow with an appointment date. But they will not make any recommendation until after the PET Scan and the MRI fusing and the team meets next week. So prayer warriors, we have another week to pray and lift my life before the throne of God.

I will email all of you when I find out the day and time of the PET Scan so all of you can be praying.

Please continue to pray as we are for a miracle….what a great witness to the power of God this will be!!!!

Serving God With You…

Rick L. Starr
Continue reading “2007-07-24: Rick Starr.”